A core feature of our playground will be five stations through which participants may cycle at their own pace. Each station will align to one of the five phases of the 5E design process:
EXPLORE, EMPATHIZE, EXPERIMENT, EXECUTE and EVOLVE as well as introduce one or more of five principles of game-based thinking: journeys and quests, rules and guidelines, systems and mechanics, trials and errors, and choices and consequences. As a result of moving through all five stations, participants will have designed a pocket-sided tabletop game (dice, roleplay, card, board, etc.) that demonstrates deeper understanding of an essential learning concept or skill. This game they will be able to take with them as an artifact of their learning as well as to use with their impact area.
In addition, there will be a series of 25-minute mini-sessions and stations featuring practitioners sharing strategies, stories, resources, and insights into game-based learning experiences. These practitioners will include designers, educators, organizers, and creators from a diverse range of experience and knowledge. We intended there to be 12-16 such mini-sessions and stations over the duration of the playground.
After this playground, participants will be able to apply the phases of the 5E design process. This is a process that has been developed for learners, colleagues, and collaborators in the design thinking in education and project-based learning spaces to the development of tabletop games that deepen critical thinking and content knowledge.
Participants will be able to apply tabletop gaming concepts and experiences to their content area classrooms, multi-age classrooms, and interdisciplinary classrooms.
Participants will be able to identify practical and conceptual ways in which their impact area may benefit from integrated game-based thinking into learner experience
Participants will be able to identify leaders in the game-based thinking community with whom they may connect and learn from in the future.
Collaborators and presenters will be able to reflect upon and evolve their own practices as a result of sharing their work with others.
TabletopEDU https://www.tabletopedu.org/
Tabletop RPG Kids https://www.ttrpgkids.com/
Ellie Dix, game designer, Why Board Games Are Educational https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2021/04/15/why-are-board-games-educational/
Noda S, Shirotsuki K, Nakao M. The effectiveness of intervention with board games: a systematic review. Biopsychosoc Med. 2019 Oct 21;13:22 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6802304/
The Power of Board Games for Multidomain Learning in Young Children; Daniela K. O’Neill and Paige E. Holmes, American Journal of Play, 2022 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1357958.pdf
Quinn Rollins, Play Like a Pirate, Dave Burgess Publishing, 2016
Amy Burvall and Dan Ryder, Intention: Critical Creativity in the Classroom, Blend Education, 2019
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